Now, the Baltic states consist of three countries – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, which received sovereignty in the course of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Each of these states position themselves, respectively, as the national states of Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians. Nationalism in the Baltic countries was raised to the level of a state policy, which explains the numerous examples of the discrimination of the Russian and Russian-speaking population. Meanwhile, if to figure this out, it becomes clear that the Baltic countries are typical “replica states” with the absence of their own political history and tradition. Of course not, the states in the Baltic region existed before, but it’s not at all Latvians or Estonians that created them.

What did the Baltic region represent before its lands were included in the structure of the Russian Empire? Before the 13th century, when the German knights/crusaders started conquering the Baltic region, it was a complete and utter “zone of tribes”. Here lived the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes, which didn’t have their own statehood and professed paganism. Thus, modern Latvians as a people appeared as a result of a merger of the Baltic region (Latgalians, Semigallians, Selonians, Curonians) and Finno-Ugric (Livonians) tribes. At the same time it should be taken into account that Baltic tribes themselves weren’t the indigenous people of the Baltic region – they migrated from the South and pushed aside the local Finno-Ugric population to the north of modern Latvia. It is especially the absence of their own statehood that became one of the main reasons for the conquest of the Baltic and the Finno-Ugric people of the Baltic region by more powerful neighbors.

Since the 13th-14th centuries the peoples of the Baltic region found themselves between two fires – from the Southwest they were squeezed and subordinated by the German Order of Knighthood, and from the Northeast – the Russian principalities. It’s not at all the ancestors of modern Lithuanians, but the Litvin – “western Russians”, Slavs, the ancestors of modern Belarusians – who were the “kernel” of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The adoption of the Catholic religion and the developed cultural ties with the neighbouring Poland provided differences between Litvin and the population of Rus. The situation of the Baltic tribes was far from being joyful both in the German Knighthood states and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were subjected to religious, linguistic, and social discrimination.

The situation was even worse for the Finno-Ugric tribes, which subsequently became the basis for the formation of the Estonian nation. In Estland, like in the neighbouring Livonia and Courland, all main levers of governance and economy were in the hands of the East Sea [Ostsee – ed] Germans. Before the middle of the 19th century in the Russian Empire such a name as “Estonians” wasn’t even used – all natives of Finland, the Vyborg Governorate, and some other Baltic territories were united under the name “chukhna”. Moreover, there were no distinctions between Estonians, Izhorians, Vepsians, and Finns. The standard of living of “chukhna” was even lower than that of Latvians and Lithuanians. A considerable part of villagers moved towards St. Petersburg, Riga, and other large cities in search of earnings. A large number of Estonians even moved towards other regions of the Russian Empire – thus Estonian settlements appeared in the North Caucasus, Crimea, Siberia, and the Far East. They left for the “world’s end” not at all because they had a good life. It is interesting that in the cities of the Baltic region there were almost no Estonians and Latvians – it is they themselves who called themselves “villagers”, opposing themselves to city dwellers – Germans.

The main part of the population of Baltic cities up to the 19th century consisted of ethnic Germans, and also Poles and Jews, but not at all Baltic people. In fact, the “old” (pre-revolutionary) Baltic region was completely built by Germans. Baltic cities were German cities – with German architecture, culture, and system of municipal management. In knighthood states, in the Duchy of Courland, and in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Baltic people would never become equal with title Germans, Poles or Litvins. For the German nobility dominating in the Baltic region, Latvians and Estonians were people of the second grade, almost “barbarians”, there couldn’t even be talk of equal rights. The nobility and merchants of the Duchy of Courland completely consisted of East Sea Germans. The German minority for centuries dominated Latvian peasants making up the main part of the population of the duchy. Latvian peasants were enslaved and in terms of their social status they were equated to ancient Roman slaves by the Courland statute.

Freedom came to Latvian peasants almost half a century earlier than to Russian serfs – the decree on the cancellation of serfdom in Courland was signed by the emperor Alexander I in 1817. On August 30th in Mitava the release of peasants was solemnly declared. Two years later, in 1819, Livonia’s peasants were also released. Thus Latvians received long-awaited freedom, with which the gradual formation of a class of free Latvian farmers started. If it wasn’t for the will of the Russian emperor, who knows how many more decades Latvians would’ve remained in the condition of being the serfs of German sirs. The incredible mercy shown by Alexander I in relation to the peasants of Courland and Livonia had an enormous impact on the further economic development of these lands. By the way, it’s not a coincidence that Latgale turned into the most economically backward part of Latvia – liberation from serfdom came to Latgale peasants much later, and this circumstance affected the development of agriculture, trade, and crafts in the region.

The liberation of the serfs of Livonia and Courland allowed them to rather quickly turn into successful farmers who lived much better off than the peasants of Northern and Central Russia. An impulse was given to the further economic development of Latvia. But even after the liberation of peasants, the main resources of Livonia and Courland remained in the hands of East Sea Germans, who organically fitted into Russian aristocracy and merchants. A large number of prominent military and politicians of the Russian Empire – generals and admirals, diplomats and ministers – emerged from the environment of the East Sea nobility. On the other hand, the situation of Latvians or Estonians remained denigrated – and not at all because of Russians, who are now accused of occupying the Baltic region, but because of the East Sea nobility that exploited the population of the region.

Now in all the countries of the Baltic region people like to argue about the “horrors of Soviet occupation”, but they prefer to keep quiet about the fact that it is precisely Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians who supported the revolution that gave them their long-awaited liberation from the domination of East Sea Germans. If German aristocracy of the Baltic region in its majority supported the white movement, then whole divisions of Latvian Riflemen were at war on the side of the red movement. Ethnic Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians played a very large role in the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, and their percent in the Red Army and the state security bodies was the highest.

When modern Baltic politicians argue about “Soviet occupation”, they forget that tens of thousands of “Latvian Riflemen” fought all across Russia for the establishment of this same Soviet power, and then continued to serve in the bodies of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, Joint State Political Directorate, NKVD, and the Red Army, and not in the lowest posts either. As we see, nobody oppressed Latvians or Estonians on ethnic grounds in Soviet Russia. Moreover, in the first post-revolutionary years Latvian formations were considered as privileged ones, and it is precisely they that guarded the Soviet leadership and carried out the most responsible tasks, including suppressing numerous anti-Soviet actions in the Russian provinces. It is necessary to say that, without feeling kinship and cultural proximity with Russian peasants, Riflemen dealt with the uprising quite rigidly, which the Soviet leadership appreciated.

During the inter-war period (from 1920 to 1940) several worlds existed in Latvia – Latvian, German, Russian, and Jewish, which tried to cross each other’s paths at a minimum. It is clear that the situation of Germans in independent Latvia was better than the situation of Russians or Jews, but there were certain nuances all the same. Thus, despite the fact that Germans and Latvians were Lutherans or Catholics, German and Latvian Catholic and Protestant churches and schools existed separately. I.e., two people with apparently close cultural values tried to maximally distance from each other. For Latvians, Germans were occupiers and the descendants of exploiters/feudal lords, and for Germans the Latvians were almost “forest barbarians”. Especially because as a result of the agrarian reform, East Sea landowners were deprived of their lands, which were transferred to Latvian farmers.

Among the East Sea Germans pro-monarchic moods dominated at first – they hoped for the restoration of the Russian Empire and the return of Latvia into its structure, and then, in the 1930’s, German Nazism started to spread very quickly – it is enough to remember that Alfred Rosenberg, one of Hitler’s key ideologists, was from the Baltic region. The East Sea Germans connected the restoration of their political and economic domination to the spreading of German power across the Baltic region. They considered the cities of Estonia and Latvia built by Germans falling in the hands of “villagers” – Estonians and Latvians – to be extremely unfair.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the “Soviet occupation”, the Baltic region would have been under Nazi rule, would be attached to Germany, and the local Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian population would be faced with second-class status and the subsequent fast assimilation. Despite the fact that in 1939 the repatriation of Germans from Latvia to Germany had started, and by 1940 practically all the East Sea Germans living in the country left it, they would anyway return there again if Latvia found itself as a part of the Third Reich.

Adolf Hitler treated the population of “Ostland” very disdainfully and for a long time hindered the implementation of the plans of a number of German military leaders for the formation of Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian units as a part of the troops of the SS. On the territory of the Baltic region the German administration was recommended to forbid any slight movement of the local population towards autonomy and self-determination, and the creation of higher educational institutions with studying in the Lithuanian, Latvian or Estonian languages was strictly forbidden. At the same time, it was allowed to create for the local population vocational and technical schools, which testifies to only one thing – in the German-occupied Baltic region only the fate of service personnel awaited Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians.

I.e., actually it is precisely Soviet troops that saved Latvians from returning to a situation where they would be a majority deprived of civil rights under German sirs. However, taking into account the number of natives of the republics of the Baltic region serving in Hitler’s auxiliary police and the SS, it is possible to be sure that serving the occupiers as collaborators wasn’t a big problem for many of them.

Now, the auxiliary police that served Hitler are being rehabilitated in the countries of the Baltic region, and at the same time the merits of those Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians who took up arms and followed the way of fighting against Nazism, served in the Red Army, and fought as a part of partisan units are being suppressed and refuted. Modern Baltic politicians also forget about how huge the contribution of Russia and then the Soviet Union was in the development of culture, written language, and sciences in the Baltic republics. In the USSR a large amount of books were translated into the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian languages, and writers from the Baltic republics had the opportunity to publish their works, which were then also translated into other languages of the Soviet Union and were printed in huge numbers.

It is precisely during the Soviet period that a powerful and developed education system was created in the Baltic republics – both secondary and higher, and all Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians received an education in their native language and used their scripture, without experiencing any discrimination during subsequent employment. It goes without saying that in the Soviet Union the natives of the republics of the Baltic region had the opportunity to develop their careers not only inside the borders of their native regions, but also inside the borders of the huge country in general – they became high-ranking party figures, military leaders and naval commanders, they formed a career in science, culture, sport, etc. All of this became possible thanks to the huge contribution of the Russian people to the development of the Baltic region. Sane Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians never forget what the Russians did for the Baltic region. It’s not a coincidence that one of the main tasks of the modern Baltic regimes became the eradication of any adequate information about life in the Baltic republics during the Soviet period. After all, the main task is to forever tear off the Baltic region from Russia and Russian influence and to raise the younger generations of Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians in the spirit of total Russophobia and admiration for the West.

The Essential Saker II: Civilizational Choices and Geopolitics / The Russian challenge to the hegemony of the AngloZionist Empire

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boris gudonov
That is correct. The Balts want to be independent and, subconsciously, have Russia cover up their expenses. Now they hate Russia because they know they cannot live without it, the West failing to give them the economic paradise they expected.

Small nations between East and West are confused. They expected miracle of prosperity
from the West . That was the soft power of the West : Prosperity and freedom. Years are passing by and nothing good is happening. They can not admit to themselves that they have been fooled majorly.
So, they become more frantic every day . They hate Russia in order not to hate themselves and
beloved , long expected West . .

This is a fascinating piece. Regarding the ‘eastern Germans’ — we should keep in mind that as the German nation expanded eastwards large numbers of West Slavic and even some Baltic peoples (primarily the “Old Prussians”) were assimilated into the new, enlarged German people. The Nazi propaganda of a “pure Germanic” nation going back thousands of years is easily shown to be false by studying this history. Germany is really a mixture of both Western and Eastern Europeans.

Really? “Not a single artist, scientist, thinker of note” from the Baltics?

Let’s just take Estonia (the smallest country of the three Baltic states). Try these out for size:

1. Do you know Skype? Sure, right? Where (and by whom) it was created? In Estonia and by Estonians. Even today, most of Skype’s development team is situated in Tallinn, capital of Estonia.

2. Who are the founders of Transferwise? Estonians

3. Who won German WRC Rally just a week ago (and the previous rally – Rally Finland a few weeks earlier)? – Ott Tänak from Estonia

3. What about Neeme Järvi and Paavo Järvi – top-notch conductors in the world? (please google their names)

4. What about Arvo Pärt – the Hall of Fame composer of classical and religious music. (Please google his name)

5. What about Ilon Wikland – the illustrator behind some of the world’s most beloved children’s books?

6. What about Mark Kostabi – artist and composer (Google his name)

7. I could continue on and on…

I just gave these examples to show that even a very a small nation can, in fact, do very well world wide.

Plus, Estonians do not hate Russians. This is US propaganda, Estonian politicians and Estonian MSM that are Russofobic. But not Estonian people as a nation.

Estonians want to live in peace with Russia, do good business with them, travel to Russia, etc., etc., etc. But we cannot because our country is ruled by EU and EU by US.

Like the Saker has always emphasized, EU does not have its own foreign policy. Thus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania don’t have their own foreign policy. Ultimately, just like Germans and French, they will do as they are told to do by the deep state somewhere in the New World.

And, unfortunately, their role is to be extremely russofobic and keep screaming, “Russians are coming!”

These Baltic nations have nothing to worry about in terms of their future.

The West is bringing them transgender bathrooms, fluid gender identities, American military bases (and a consequent growth in the local prostitution and drug trade), and free market economic reforms up the wazoo.

The future looks so bright, these Baltic nations will have to wear shades!

Don’t forget most able bodied people leave for better prospects elsewhere and it will be a matter of decades before they are replaced with migrants and their dreams of nationhood eradicated, as per EU policy.

Sweden, whose banking sector was flexing its very considerable muscles having freed itself of any governmental restrictions, let alone supervision, literally flooded the Baltics with credits to all and sundry — just like what German and French banks were doing in Greece, achieving predictably the exact same results: deindustrialization, depopulation, abysmal birth rates. In short: killing off these wondrous, ”liberated” countries almost instantly and with their subjects’ consent. The Balts prefer harping on about how ”Soviet occupation” destroyed their entire history in spite of all the proof to the contrary, but now that they have been destroyed for real by rapacious Swedish finance, they keep quiet. It’s the same kind of grovelling that the Ukros excel in: Germany’s very real campaigns of deliberate famine and genocide in Ukraine are fine, so the Ukros cleverly invent a bogus famine called ”Holodomor” and blame Russia for this utter non-event.

I laugh when I think that those that treated them the worst are the ones that they run with open hands. As you mention, the same is with the SS-loving Ukros.

I suspect the Balt’s political elites have sold out their countries as was done in Poland. The Czechs are hanging in. While lonely Hungary is the only one that appears to be functioning for its People.

All nations including Baltic states, Finland, Sweden, Russia and Poland have their myths and legends of “nationalist ideas”. We should take those stories seriously before making deep going studies. The common claim among Finnish nationalist that “Sweden conquered Finland” some 800 years ago is myth. There wasn’t any Sweden as national nation, nor was there “Finland”. There were local tribes. There was Swedish king and 3 heartlands, 2 in current Sweden 1 in Finland, rest were provinces. Certain people in Finland were benefiting of that alliance. And as often adopting language of King was based of self interests. No need to tell why business class in Finland during Grand Duchy of Finland were least interested in Finnish independence when focusing more making money in Sankt Petersburg. And i can’t blame them as pure opportunists. After all independence is some bred you eat. At best its tool to better future. Sometimes it’s step to hell.

Excellent article. History is a complex subject. Up till the mid 19th century you had two schools of history, the Germanic School of History, centered in Vienna, and the Slavic School of History, centered in Moscow. After the mid 19th century the Germanic School took the lead in the interpretation of history, which has always been used for political purposes.

For example, Prussians are all assimilated Germans, former Slavs. The German capital of Berlin is built on Slavic lands, and the actual name is Slavic, derived from the Slavic name “brljin”, which means poor land. From “brljin” you get Berlin. Even today Berlin is having a tough time building an airport, which cannot properly stand on soft land. Prussian maps from the first half of the 19th century show Slavic names of towns and rivers. Otto von Bismarcks mother was a North Serb, and even today you have North Serbs living in Saxony and Brandenburg, known as the “Luzisky Serbja”, some 105.000 of them.

I always wondered about the Baltic states, and now I have a clear picture. All three are now suffering from what I call the “post communist syndrome”. All three wanted to leave the Soviet Union and renounce communism, hoping for overnight Western prosperity, as they understood it. They got the opposite, with at least 25 % of the populations emigrating. On the one hand they have grasped that they cannot properly function without the former Soviet Union, while on the other hand they are venting their frustrations against Russia, as if Russia was ordained to back up their economies, like in the good old days.

Europe is looking at interesting changes. We shall see what kind of conclusion we get.

“on the other hand they are venting their frustrations against Russia,”
There is nothing to vent. They are in the EU and Russia has no responsibility for how they are doing in 2018. Such small countries after all this time should be working like Swiss clocks but ….. NO. EU dosn’t need competition. EU being Germany and France.

Annika Falkengren, one of the most notorious CEO:s within Sweden’s banking sector (she left Sweden last year for a career in Switzerland — imagine the Sweden/Switzerland confusion!) really personified the Baltic debacle. I believe the harridan sincerely merits a similar blog post:

Swedes have lived in Estonia from the time of the Vikings and perhaps longer. A small group in Estonia still speak Swedish and some estonian Swedes live i Ukraine. Their language is archaic, but understandable. Estonian and Finnish are not far from each other. Some estonians think Finland is too much big brother. We communicated in Russian when we were there and had no problems. I recommend the beer!

An estonian delegation asked the Swedish king för protection and he accepted. What did the swedes do? They built an important university financed by several other countries. It was an engine for the baltic countries.

Some German names can be seen in Tallin to this day.

The estonians sang themselves to freedom when the USSR fell. Some sang for three days and nights. It was almost magic.

I have heard people from the Baltic countries were rather popular in St. Petersburg?

History is interesting, but we must look at it from all sides. Sweden did some goods things and did not need to conquer the country. At least not in the 16th century. And swedes are not germans.

“some German names…” Yep, in the market square of the capital Tallinn, the old city hall has its name carved in stone: “Rathaus.” German for city hall.

Even though modern Estonian is close to Finnish, way back when Estonian evolved out of German. There are more words with German roots in Estonian—6,000–than any other language: Here’s a link to a discussion https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/estonian-german-loan-words.2909413/ They dispute how Estonian got started but the books I’ve read about it do indeed say German and that the German grammar was simplified.

Everyone migrated from somewhere else. This whole exercise of trying to assign people their “historic” lands is turning into total nonsense. Every tribe migrated. Every tribe fought and tried to take the territory of neighboring tribes.

We know “humans” originated in Africa. Perhaps somewhere there is one person who lives in that place and who can trace their DNA back to those original humans who can claim “this is our land.” Beyond that, its all nonsense

And its the sort of dangerous nonsense that becomes the basis for hating and killing and driving off “the other”.

Of course, the most extreme form of this nonsense is the group of people trying to claim a chunk of the eastern Mediterranean shore as their own ‘homeland’ because hey, they say they lived there 2000 years ago? Almost as extreme is a bunch of immigrants trying to claim ‘the new world’ as their own simply because they arrived there a small fraction of a percent of human history before the rest.

Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we just figured out how to live together in peace? Seems like some dude named Jesus tried to tell us that a couple of thousand years ago, but now all we want to do is to kill each other in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Otherwise, lets just call the whole thing “Neanderthal Land” and give it to them because they were here before the rest of us.

You can’t but love this article.
I would like to add to it, that looking at Polish “Book of Kings and Princes of Poland” on Page 36, they are talking about division of Polish kingdom by the King “Bolesław Krzywousty – He had a problem with his mouth this is what his name Krzywousty means”. After this division one of his, who inherited north-eastern part of the kingdom “invited” “black cross bearing Germans” to give him protection. This is said to start slow German incursion into the Baltic regions, which also became Easter Prussia, the author is talking about.

My apologies for my typing, the words and letters seem to disappear between my brain and my fingers.
Read: “… After this division one of his sons (he had four of them) … ”
“… Eastern Prussia …”
My apologies again, I seem to be doing it regularly.
Addition: The division happened in 1138AD and it was supposed to prevent an infighting between his sons, it never did.

I agree with the most but I think we ought to consider also that they are not facing the old Soviet Union with its social welfare and its many opportunities for everyone (and its great power…) but a post soviet westernized, yeltsinized, liberalist Russia that is not a real alternative to Russia western partners and that is much more weaker than them.

Dunno why we should compare social support in Russia and different EU states in the context of this topic, as that is hardly the issue driving balticians into Waffen SS cuckoo land.

The claim is made they grow bitter that Russia does not sponsor their economies like in Soviet days, but even then it is a talk about macroeconomics not individual social support.

W.r.t. “much more weaker” – that wad the stake they made. Like in “holy 1990-s” public property was hastily turned into scrap metal (that very “to steal for a penny while destroying) for a pound”) and smuggled in Baltics States who rocketed into top EU scrap metal sellers. They hoped West would subdue Russia into another round of feasting upon a prey and then their Waffen SS affiliations would be used and awarded.

That huge stake could bring them good benefits, but it failed to materialoze yet. They are running out of patience those proud Baltic tigers.

Human civilization in the Brown And Little Tiny Insect CountrieS can only be sustained by settling non-European immigrants there. I have an eerie feeling that it comes across as quite a challenge in the eyes of what remains of the native population.

Bottom line: The Balts got ’European values’ from that very groovy Swedish blonde Annika Falkengren. But I suppose her death kiss amounted to an unbelievably ecstatic experience. It was well worth utter national suicide — anything but Putin!

Knowledge of the E Baltic peoples and states is generally very limited in N America and westernmost Europe. Ilya Polotsky’s article is a welcome attempt to address this lack. To simplify that task he concentrates on two major foreign powers (Germany and Russia) that have played important roles as invaders or rulers in helping shape the history and present-day of the E Baltic peoples. He concentrates on highlighting problems created by Germans (Teutonic Knights, erstwhile aristocracy and the German-dominated EU) versus progress facilitated by Russia (Empire, then USSR). These are delicate aspects preferably forgotten in current politically correct discourse in the E Baltics.
It is perhaps understandable that Polotsky neglects to mention the role of two other former powers (Poland and Sweden). However, my main criticism is his dismissive attitude towards the native peoples of the East Baltics and towards their achievements. The article’s historic map cuts out 1/3 of the E Baltics (i.e. Estonia). The Baltic Crusades were no catwalk for the Teutonic Knights. They met fierce resistance (1198-1290), and the Livonian people were decimated before the E Baltics could be subjugated. Farther south the kingdom of Lithuania was established in 1253, and became Europe’s largest state in the 1300s. In 1569 Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which lasted over200 years. Sweden was the greatest power in the Baltic Sea region during the 1600s, and its largest metropolis was Riga (Latvia), not Stockholm. In 1632 Sweden established in Estonia the University of Tartu (Dorpat). Today it is highly ranked internationally and top-ranked in the E Baltics. After the Great Northern War, Russia closed Tartu University between 1710-1802.
People in the numerically small E Baltics have often suffered at the hands of warring and powerful neighbors. WW II itself carried a heavy toll, but was exacerbated by Soviet deportations in 1941 and 1949 of ca 3% of their populations (220 000 natives, the largest contingent being Lithuanians). People in the newly occupied E Baltics enjoyed the highest educational levels and standard of living in the Soviet Union. When new factories and housing were established, it was easy to attract workers from elsewhere. Up till 1970 over 800 000 Russian speakers migrated to the E Baltics. That changed their demography and indirectly promoted Russification. This in turn increased the natives’ wish for independence. Between 1987-91 hundreds of thousands of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians courageously united to participate in the “Singing Revolution” which resulted in their nationally independent states. Folk traditions are remarkably vibrant there, but they can also be technological pioneers. Estonia is one of the world’s most computerized countries; Skype’s co-inventor is also an Estonian.
It is to be hoped that geopolitics and cooperation will stabilize soon in Europe, and that the Eastern Baltic states’ relations with neighboring states may also normalize for mutual benefit.

Another interesting version on what Balts did in history happened to appear these days as a commentary to RusVesna‘s report on the Perkel/Mutin tete-a-tete in Mezeberg athttp://rusvesna.su/news/1534678454

that is, as far as I understand it (and never read it before): the Baltic tribe or nation of the Pruss“ians“ did not only give hell to the teutonic invaders and usurpators, did not only defend their free way of living according to their customs longer than any other nation in that „Baltic” region, but also became pravoslavny and started to regroup the resistance forces, in building an alliance not only of power, but of values, convictions and planning, decision making and preparing actions, i.e. of strategically creating an alliance which lasts until today and much surpassed the Teutonic knights, the german usurpator construction of „Prussia“ and the german usurpator construction of „Germany“ from 1871 until today – wow!

Knowledge of the E Baltic peoples and states is generally very limited in N America and westernmost Europe. Ilya Polotsky’s article is a welcome attempt to address this lack. To simplify that task he concentrates on two major foreign powers (Germany and Russia) that have played important roles as invaders or rulers in helping shape the history and present-day of the E Baltic peoples. He concentrates on highlighting problems created by Germans (Teutonic Knights, erstwhile aristocracy and the German-dominated EU) versus progress facilitated by Russia (Empire, then USSR). These are delicate aspects preferably forgotten in current politically correct discourse in the E Baltics.
It is perhaps understandable that Polotsky neglects to mention the role of two other former powers (Poland and Sweden). However, my main criticism is his dismissive attitude towards the native peoples of the East Baltics and towards their achievements. The article’s historic map cuts out 1/3 of the E Baltics (i.e. Estonia). The Baltic Crusades were no catwalk for the Teutonic Knights. They met fierce resistance (1198-1290), and the Livonian people were decimated before the E Baltics could be subjugated. Farther south the kingdom of Lithuania was established in 1253, and became Europe’s largest state in the 1300s. In 1569 Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which lasted over200 years. Sweden was the greatest power in the Baltic Sea region during the 1600s, and its largest metropolis was Riga (Latvia), not Stockholm. In 1632 Sweden established in Estonia the University of Tartu (Dorpat). Today it is highly ranked internationally and top-ranked in the E Baltics. After the Great Northern War, Russia closed Tartu University between 1710-1802.
People in the numerically small E Baltics have often suffered at the hands of warring and powerful neighbors. WW II itself carried a heavy toll, but was exacerbated by Soviet deportations in 1941 and 1949 of ca 3% of their populations (220 000 natives, the largest contingent being Lithuanians). People in the newly occupied E Baltics enjoyed the highest educational levels and standard of living in the Soviet Union. When new factories and housing were established, it was easy to attract workers from elsewhere. Between 1944 and 1970 over 800 000 Russian speakers migrated to the E Baltics. That changed their demography and indirectly promoted Russification. This in turn increased the natives’ longing for independence. Between 1987-91 hundreds of thousands of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians courageously united to participate in the “Singing Revolution” which resulted in their nationally independent states. Folk traditions are remarkably vibrant there, but they can also be technological pioneers. Estonia is one of the world’s most computerized countries; Skype’s co-inventor is also an Estonian.
It is to be hoped that geopolitics and cooperation will stabilize soon in Europe, and that the Eastern Baltic states’ relations with neighboring states may also normalize for mutual benefit.

You are skipping quite a few developments between 1569 and 1919 such as :
– Riga as a port city was built to export Russian grain and other commodities; as such its wealth and status was derived from trade with Russia, and it was contested by all the neighbors: Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia;
– Lithuania and later PLC had at its core several Western Russian principalities that were the majority of the population of Lithuania and a close to a half of population of PLC; in fact, the official language used in legal documents and court proceedings was neither Lithuvanian nor Polish; it was Church Slavonic!
– since the area became part of the Russian Empire (1721), Russian governours were running Estland, Courland , and parts of Lithuvania – with Russian berocracy, police, gendarms, courts all conducting their business in Russian; “native” German landowners all hired Russian nannies so that their offspring had a chance climbing social/military/scientific ladders in the bright new big empire they became part of. And clibmingh they did – von Struves, von Benkendorfs, Essens, Faberge, Nobels, Jacobys, Ingestroems and many many more. Just one more name – Otto von Bismarck.
– Fast forward to 1914 – the Baltic provinces are part of the Russian Empire for almost 200 years and Riga is its 3rd largest city (the word coincidentally means grain store in Russian) – surely, some Russian is spoken and some ethnic Russians settled there.

May I suggest that perhaps not all 800 000 Russian speakers were merely “migrating” to the E. Baltics after 1944 – some were returning home. After all, its been only 30 years.

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